


See The Little Puffer Bellies All In A Row

by maaaaa



Series: Puffer Bellies [1]
Category: The Sentinel (TV)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-09
Updated: 2020-04-09
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:27:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23556049
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maaaaa/pseuds/maaaaa
Summary: Jim and Blair deal with day-to-day life after Blair suffers a brain injury.
Series: Puffer Bellies [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1695412
Kudos: 7





	See The Little Puffer Bellies All In A Row

**Author's Note:**

> My “Puffer Bellies” series was written between September 2007 and July 2009. It is a WIP that was never quite finished. The stories stand pretty well on their own, but should be read in order.

Blair unfastened his seat belt and slid across the seat to make room for Simon.

“Hey Blair, lookin’ good,” Simon greeted as he climbed in. He flicked at Blair’s hair and snorted. “Is Jim fertilizing this mop or what?”

Blair gave Jim a puzzled look.

“He just means your hair’s growing back faster than he thought it would,” Jim explained as he nodded a hello at Simon.

Blair brightened and replied, “Oh! Yeah, Jim says it grows like crazy and it used to be down to my shoulders. And,” he added solemnly with wide eyes, as if daring Simon to refute his next words, “He says that before he knew me it was all the way down to my butt. But I think he’s teasing ‘cuz if he didn’t know me how does he know that?”

“Man’s got a point Jim,” Simon agreed with a chuckle.

“Yup,” Blair chimed, popping the ‘p’ and grinning as he started fidgeting. “Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go,” he chanted as he bobbed in place.

“What’ve I said the rule is about seat belts?” Jim prompted guardedly. He arched an eyebrow meaningfully.

Blair fumbled around for the belt, elbowing both Jim and Simon in the process. His tongue played across his lips and a look of grim determination flitted over his face as he fiddled with the locking mechanism. It took almost five minutes but he finally managed to click it into place. Jim had fastened it for him when they’d left the loft, but knew better than to do it in front of Simon.

“All set?” Jim asked as he shifted Sweetheart into drive. Not waiting for an answer he suspected wouldn’t be coming, he pulled away from the curb.

Blair shrugged and stared sullenly off into space.

Simon’s brows scrunched as he looked past Blair to Jim.

“He’s still working on his fine motor skills. Right Chief?” Jim explained, nudging Blair’s shoulder with his own.

Blair drew away from Jim’s touch as far as he could within the cramped confines of the truck, and hunkered into a stiff slouch.

Simon shot Jim a worried look, which Jim fended off with a curt shake of his head.

They drove for a while with Jim and Simon making small talk until they passed a sign that caught Blair’s eye and his mood abruptly flipped.

“Did you see that Simon?” Blair asked excitedly as he straightened up and craned his neck to look back at the sign. “That said Rainer. Did you see it? I used to go to school there. Jim said so. When I was smart.”

Simon flinched at Blair’s sudden mood change and grimaced at the casual remark about his diminished intellectual capacity.

But Jim replied, just as casually, “The doctors said you’ll be smart again, didn’t they?”

“Probably, maybe,” Blair conceded hesitantly with a headshake. “We’ll go with the flow.” He smiled shyly at Jim, looking for approval.

“You bet Chief,” Jim assured. He wrapped an arm around Blair’s shoulder and gently noogied his head.

Blair’s smile grew into a delighted grin. “Are we there yet?” he piped up. “Are we? Are we there yet?”

“Don’t start, Chief,” Jim warned. He didn’t even try to pretend to be gruff, and his eyes crinkled as the corners of his mouth twitched.

“Are we there yet?” Blair repeated with an innocent lilt.

“I mean it.”

“Are we?”

“Don’t make me turn this truck around.”

“Are we there yet?”

“Don’t think I won’t.”

“Are we?”

Simon’s entire body shook with silent laughter as the yo-yo’d conversation kept up over the course of the next eight blocks, until they arrived at the Cascade Mountains Railroad Museum. Neither of his friends seemed to tire of what appeared to be an inside joke and he wondered how much of Jim’s time since Blair’s injury had been spent in similar roundhouse repartee.

“Remember you said I could get a train whistle,” Blair reminded Jim as he hopped out of the truck after Simon.

“I said I’d think about it,” Jim countered as they walked toward the gate.

He paid the entrance fee and let Blair choose where they’d head first. It came as no surprise to him that Blair made a beeline for the row of 19th century steam engines lined up side by side outside the museum building.

“Keep where I can see you,” Jim advised in a loud voice.

Blair laughed and waved as he ran ahead of his friends.

Jim dug his fists into his jacket pockets as he and Simon followed at a more sedate pace.

“Thanks for coming along,” Jim said to Simon.

“Why today?” Simon asked.

Jim pursed his lips for a moment and swallowed a deep lungful of air before answering.

“Because the dreams won’t stop. Because the doctors think it might help. Because this is the last day they’ll be here.” Jim counted off the reasons for the visit to the scene of Blair’s injury six weeks earlier as he tilted his head toward the steam engines.

There was a fair-sized crowd today, like that other day. But it wasn’t as noisy; there were no startled screams and shrieks, no parents frantically gathering up their children as a crazed gunman darted among them.

Jim came to a stop in front of the row of engines. He watched Blair as he strolled up and down in front of them, cocking his head and furrowing his brow as he looked them over.

People began gathering in small bunches to wait for the engineers to fire up the engines. Eager anticipation permeated the cool, brisk air.

Jim could hear the rattle and ping of the boilers firing up. The heated water hissed and gurgled as the bellies of the engines belched puffs of steam that billowed outward and swirled up and about, creating curtains of white and gray between the rows.

And then it was happening again.

He was pursuing Jarvis across the train yard, shouting at him to stop. Blair was hot on his heels, shepherding civilians out of harm’s way. Jarvis ran into the steam clouds and Jim followed him, shouting at Blair to keep back. And Blair had followed his orders. He tracked Jarvis by the sound of his staccato heartbeat, labored breathing, and his footsteps crunching on the graveled walkways as he wove his way in and out between the engines. Jim followed him up and down several rows, shouting for him to give it up. He emerged at the end of one of the rows, and paused a few moments to get his bearings and make out what he was hearing. There were two heartbeats now within the steam clouds and he took another moment to glance wildly around for Blair. He spun back toward the engines and saw two figures coming out of the steam. Jarvis had an arm around Blair’s neck and the tip of his gun’s barrel pressed to Blair’s temple. Jim stood with his gun pointed at Jarvis’s head and ordered him to put down his weapon and release Blair. As Blair tried to twist out of Jarvis’s hold, the gun went off, grazing the back of his head. Jarvis pushed him into the side of the nearest engine and then leveled his gun at Jim. Jim fired once, taking Jarvis out. Blair’s head bounced hard against the metal of the engine and then he went down like a rock, hitting his head again on the track. It was all a blur after that.

“Jim,” Blair said calmly as he shook Jim’s arm. “Jim, it’s over. Come on, Jim,” he soothed.

Simon was next to Jim too, steadying him as he swayed precariously.

Jim blinked, and blinked again. He gave himself a hard shake and frowned at Blair, then Simon.

“I zoned?” he asked unsurely.

Simon nodded.

Blair answered, “I forget what zoned means. You told me; I know you did. But I forget.”

“It’s okay, Chief, I’ll explain it again. Later, okay?” Jim asked.

“’K,” Blair said simply, trusting that Jim would do it, even if he’d probably just forget what it was again.

Jim rubbed the back of his neck and exhaled slowly. “Can we go now?” he said to Blair.

“Will your dreams go away?” Blair replied, with a gleam in his eye for just one fleeting moment, that told Jim Blair knew exactly why they’d needed to come today.

“Yeah, yeah, I think they will,” Jim answered before changing the subject. “Still want that train whistle?”

“Really? Oh yeah!” Blair replied as he pumped an arm up and down excitedly. “Whoooo-Hoooo!” he imitated shrilly.

Simon stared at Jim like he’d lost his mind, and said as much. “Are you crazy Jim? You’re gonna let the kid have a whistle?”

Jim just laughed, pulled Blair in next to his side in a one-armed hug and said, “Sure, why not? Toot-toot! Right Chief?”

As they headed toward the gift shop a little girl skipped past them with her parents, headed toward the steam engines. Jim smiled as he heard the tail end of the song she was singing softly under her breath, “…puffer bellies all in a row.”


End file.
